


clipped

by ObscureReference



Category: Fire Emblem: If | Fire Emblem: Fates
Genre: Alternate Universe - Wings, Canon Disabled Character, Gender-Neutral My Unit | Kamui | Corrin, Grief/Mourning, Implied Camilla/Selena, Implied Relationships, Implied/Referenced Character Death, M/M, Not Really Character Death, Revelations, Wingfic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-14
Updated: 2019-01-14
Packaged: 2019-10-10 02:33:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,254
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17417372
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ObscureReference/pseuds/ObscureReference
Summary: He doesn’t have wings,Leo thought wildly, heart stopped dead in his chest.He can’t fly up.It shouldn’t have mattered. The Bottomless Canyon was a gaping maw caught in a continuous inhale. Nobody and nothing could fly over it without the air currents forcing them down into the abyss, never to be seen again. Even if Odin had been born with wings, that wouldn’t have saved him. If Leo dove after Odin right now, wings at the ready, he knew he’d simply suffer the same fate.And yet Odin’s lack of wings was all Leo could think about as his knees hit the boards of the bridge. Odin couldn’t fly. Laslow didn’t have any wings either. But maybe if he had, if they both had, then maybe together, Odin might have—He wretched his eyes away from the abyss.





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**Author's Note:**

> This fic is a slight tie-in to my Leo/Odin fic "everything stays (but it still changes)," which is a series of short Leo/Odin AUs. A wingfic AU is mentioned there, but it's so short there's no need to read that fic unless you're curious (or just like Leo/Odin content, in which case you're very much encouraged). In my head these two fics take place in the same universe, but again, I've barely ever mentioned Wingfic before, so this can very easily be taken as standalone. This was a scene I wanted to write for a long time, but this is my second time making a go at it since I wasn't very happy with the first attempt. That one began much slower too. Hopefully this is better.
> 
> This bleeds into Chapter 18 of Revelations, so there are some spoilers/references to that.
> 
> I hope you enjoy!

_“Odin!”_

Leo fired off his spell a moment too early when the shout reached his ears, fingers clenching involuntarily. Thankfully it didn’t matter. The magic hit its target, and the enemy collapsed. The bridge rocked underfoot as soldiers both seen and unseen clashed, but Leo’s attention was drawn elsewhere. He spun towards the voice, wings twitching with anxiety, just in time—

Just in time to see Odin be thrown over the side of the bridge by an invisible soldier.

Leo’s heart stopped. The scene played out before him in slow motion.

The wind whipped through Odin’s hair as he fell, back first, into the canyon. His eyes were wide and his lips were parted in surprise, but he wasn’t looking at Leo. He was looking at Laslow.

Laslow, who dove for Odin and didn’t even come close to catching him. Odin was too far out of reach already. Laslow’s stomach caught the rope railing, which dipped dangerously under his weight. Xander’s thick arm came out of nowhere and caught Laslow around the waist before he could go tumbling over the side as well.

Xander swung his sword at empty air. A shimmer collapsed to the ground, indicating the soldier who had thrown Odin over the edge had now fallen himself.

But that didn’t matter.

Leo stared, wings going slack with surprise.

Odin fell like molasses. Leo stretched out his arm, mouthing shapeless words. He didn’t have a spell to fix this.

Time resumed its treacherous passage. Between one heartbeat and the next, Odin disappeared from Leo’s sight. From his world.

 _He doesn’t have wings_ , Leo thought wildly, heart stopped dead in his chest. _He can’t fly up._

It shouldn’t have mattered. The Bottomless Canyon was a gaping maw caught in a continuous inhale. Nobody and nothing could fly over it without the air currents forcing them down into the abyss, never to be seen again. Even if Odin had been born with wings, that wouldn’t have saved him. If Leo dove after Odin right now, wings at the ready, he knew he’d simply suffer the same fate.

And yet Odin’s lack of wings was all Leo could think about as his knees hit the boards of the bridge. Odin couldn’t fly. Laslow didn’t have any wings either. But maybe if he had, if they both had, then maybe, together, Odin might have—

He wretched his eyes away from the abyss.

Laslow looked just as helpless as Leo felt. He struggled in Xander’s grasp.

“Get a hold of yourself!” Xander commanded over the din of the battle. His large, golden wings flapped to counter Laslow’s wriggling weight. “Laslow, I am sorry, but you cannot throw yourself after him! We cannot lose you both!”

“No!” Laslow shouted. “You don’t understand!”

Distantly, Leo agreed. Xander didn’t understand. Leo wanted to throw himself right over the bridge as well, but he currently couldn’t feel his legs. Or anything, really. He could only stare, numb and heartbroken, as the battle faded to a dull roar around him.

It wasn’t only that Leo _wanted_ to throw himself into the canyon. He _should_ have. The image of Odin’s fall played over and over in his mind silently. Leo shouldn’t have merely stared. It didn’t matter the distance between them, nor the dangerous air currents that swirled around them. He should have shook off his surprise. Leo should have been faster. Stuck closer. Learned to counter the air currents somehow so neither of them could ever fall. Something.

But he hadn't, and now Odin was gone.

Unfortunately, _the_ world didn’t stop even though Leo’s world had. They were still in the midst of a battle, though it took Leo a moment to remember that fact.

A blur of movement caught in his periphery, but Leo didn’t look up until another invisible soldier fell with a thud and a shimmer in front of him. Niles ducked into his vision, expression pained.

“My lord,” he said regretfully and then bit off the rest of his words. He carefully outstretched his hand.

Leo looked at the hand. Then at Niles.

Niles wings didn’t flutter involuntarily behind him like Leo’s often did. That was because Niles’s wings didn’t do much of anything. The right one especially. It had been injured in the same fight that had taken Niles’s eye, and now it hung limply off Niles’s back like a white coat.

If Niles was thrown off the side of the canyon, Leo realized, he couldn’t have been able to fly either.

And not just _the_ canyon. Any canyon. He might have had wings, but Niles couldn't fly.

The reminder that there were other people he had had to protect here washed over Leo like a slow tidal wave. Eventually, his head breached the surface of the water with a _pop_. His thoughts cleared.

He couldn’t just give up here. The sudden loss of Odin sat in his chest like a gaping hole. The other pieces of Leo’s heart failed to fill in the empty space. But, he knew, those pieces were just as vital. Niles, Elise, Corrin, Xander, Camilla—if any of them fell here, that would be the end of them too. Forever.

Leo couldn’t shut down here. None of them could afford it.

So he blinked hard and took Niles’s hand, letting himself be wrenched to his feet. He didn’t even wobble. Leo didn’t know wither to be proud of his remarkable compartmentalization or not. He still felt numb.

But a prince didn’t need emotions to operate. Not in battle. They simply needed to act.

“Later,” he said to Niles’s questioning look.

Niles had to be hurting the same way Leo was, but he was too good of a retainer to say anything more. They both knew there was still work to be done. Niles nodded, and his expression smoothed over into something suitably blank.

They pressed their backs together and continued the onslaught.

 

 

 

Odin liked to sleep on his stomach.

Leo didn’t know how he managed it. He’d tried once or twice, out of sheer curiosity if nothing else. It should have been easy, given that he was the one with wings and Odin wasn’t. But Leo laid face first into the sheets for only a minute or so before he was certain he was going to suffocate into his own pillow. So he flopped back over onto his side quickly and found himself much more comfortable for the effort. He had no idea how Odin managed to sleep like that every night.

But Odin did, and every night, Leo—ever the restless sleeper—found himself watching Odin, idling wondering if Odin would choke on cloth or his own drool first. To Leo’s affectionate befuddlement, Odin never did. The man was an endless mystery.

On nights when Leo couldn’t sleep—when the moon was too big, the bed too warm or too cold, when the unfinished work chipped away at his mind and nothing could soothe it away—he watched Odin sleep.

Somehow, watching the rhythmic rise and fall of Odin’s chest often lulled Leo into his own slumber.

On nights when that didn’t happen as quickly as he would have liked, Leo often ended up staring at Odin’s bare back.

Leo distinctly remembered reaching out and pressing his palm against the center of Odin’s back one night. Feeling the expanse of smooth skin and nothing more. There were no scars, no divots where wings might have been, once upon a time. Leo ran his hand up and down Odin’s back.

Odin had sighed unconsciously, contently, under his hand.

He’d been curious about Odin’s lack of wings. About the fact the three of them—Selena and Laslow included—had seemed to have never even _heard_ of humans with wings before arriving in Nohr. The idea had been so laughable to Leo at the time.

He’d only tried to broach the subject once. But Odin had laughed at the idea of his having wings in return, and though Leo was curious, daydreams didn’t equate to reality. So he’d dropped that line of thought and kissed his sleeping husband’s shoulder instead, willing himself to sleep. Wings or no, Odin did everything just right.

They were not laying side by side in bed now. Now Odin was gone, and Leo would never lay beside him again. 

 

 

 

When the last soldier fell and the clang of metal against metal finally halted, it became Niles’s turn to look at Leo and say, “Later.”

Leo nodded, throat thick.

Whether Niles genuinely needed the time to himself or he merely realized Leo needed it, Leo was grateful. He didn’t want to speak or look at anyone. Even Niles’s silent, empathetic company pushed at Leo’s limits. But there was no where to go, and it would have been cruel to order him away, so Leo did not. He simply sat down exactly where he had been standing, uncaring of the invisible bodies that surrounded them both, and lowered his head.

He needed _time_. To think. To process.

The battle was over and they still could not afford a compromised prince. But Leo just needed a _moment_.

Niles stood over him. Not looking. Watching the others. And perhaps taking a moment for himself as well in the quiet. Distantly, Leo appreciated it.

Nobody approached them. The bridge was not very wide, and troops were scattered on either side. And yet none dared pass by, even wordlessly. Leo figured word of his grief must have spread already. Laslow and Xander had certainly made a big enough scene for word of Odin’s death to have spread this quickly.

On either side of the bridge, soldiers whispered to one another. Whether they were gossiping about the army’s next move or Leo’s obvious grief, Leo couldn’t say. He didn’t care enough to listen. He knew without looking that he must have made quite the sight.

 _Let them see_ , he thought bitterly.

He knew his siblings were probably among the divided troops, wondering if they should approach and if so, what they should say. Leo wasn’t sure he wanted to see them at the moment. The thought filled him with relief and twisted his stomach all at once. He wanted comfort. He wanted to be left alone. He wanted—

Leo pressed his face into his hands and found he couldn’t even manage a hysteria laugh. Nor a sob. His eyes were dry. His chest felt empty.

He just—

Leo needed—

“Leo!”

Corrin’s voice. Leo instinctively hunched his shoulders. The inevitable words he didn’t want to face were coming to meet him full force. Hurried footsteps pounded across the bridge.

War always came with risks. Leo and Odin had always been aware of them.

Reality hurt more than any of those nights spent worrying over _what ifs_. Leo thought off all his wasted time. Their wasted future.

“Leo!” Corrin cried again, stumbling to a stop next to Niles.

Leo lifted his head, lips pressed together tightly. Niles said nothing, but he lifted his arm to keep Corrin from throwing their arms around Leo. Thankfully Corrin didn’t push past Niles. They barely even seemed to notice the distance. Corrin looked at Leo with their full attention, expression achingly honest and anxious.

Niles watched Leo and Corrin both, gaze empty. Leo wished he had something kind to offer Niles, but he had no such kindness left for himself. Not now, at least.

“Leo,” Corrin said, “are you—”

“Fine?” Leo said flatly. He averted his eyes to the empty space under the bridge. “No. But I can still fight, don’t worry.”

“I don’t care about that!” Corrin took a step forward and knocked into Niles’s arm. “I care about you! Leo, there’s something you have to know. Odin—”

“ _Isn’t coming back_ ,” Leo bit. “And I— _can’t_ have this conversation right now.”

There. That was a bit of something, wasn’t it? Something stirring within him. The whisper of an awful, aching sadness that Leo was somehow keeping at bay, but that was still _something_. Something besides the void behind his ribcage.

Corrin took another urgent step forward. “But that’s just it! That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you! Why I brought you all here! Odin isn’t gone. And I can’t say all the reasons why just yet, but I need you all to trust me, please!”

Their wings flared out behind them to punctuate that declaration. Pale, scaly, nearly translucent things—when had they grown so large?

Niles took a step back as Corrin’s wings opened. It was impossible to read him. Leo didn’t bother to try.

Corrin’s words tumbled around in his head.

 _Odin isn’t gone_.

No, no. He couldn’t get his hopes up. Not for nothing. He trusted Corrin, but—

“Please,” Leo said. He pushed himself to his feet, wings twitching behind him. “Corrin, you cannot— _say_ things like that if you don’t mean them.”

“But I do!” Corrin insisted. “Please, just let me grab Xander and Ryoma and everyone else! Then I’ll explain everything. You’ve come this far with me. Trust me just a bit more, won’t you?”

Leo stared at their open, earnest expression. Something hesitant—hopeful—fluttered in his chest.

His lips parted in the beginning of a “yes” when he heard another cry from further down the bridge.

Corrin’s head snapped to the sound. Niles and Leo also turned, albeit more slowly.

“You mean he’s _alone_?” Selena exclaimed, eyes wide.

Several prying eyes were now staring at them, and Laslow seemed aware of them all. He looked around anxiously and whispered in a tone that carried on the wind, _“_ Selena, you’re making a scene.”

“We’re already at the canyon!” Selena shot back loudly. “Does that really matter anymore?”

Laslow’s jaw went slack. “Out of all three of us, you’re the one who insists upon secrecy _the most_.”

“Yeah, well, now I’m _un_ -insisting. You know how terrible it is there. Odin could be in real trouble right now!”

“What in the world are you two talking about?” Xander cut in sternly. “Have you no respect for this period of mourning? If you do not believe Odin to be dead, then by the gods, say it. But do not beat around the bush and argue so everyone can listen to your debate.”

Laslow winced. Even Selena hunched her shoulders. They both glanced surreptitiously in Leo’s direction.

Xander began pushing his way through the crown towards them.

Selena leaned into to Laslow’s space and said something too quiet for Leo to hear. Both Selena and Laslow’s expressions softened considerably at whatever words were quickly exchanged. Selena squeezed Laslow’s hand in a comforting gesture.

Then she shook her head and, surprisingly, she glanced to Leo’s side.

“Corrin! If you’re going to say what I think you’re going to, then please do it quick! I’m going ahead to keep Odin out of trouble!”

Corrin caught on faster than Leo. “Selena, wait!”

But Selena did not wait. Even though Camilla came thundering down the bridge as Selena grabbed onto the railings, she was still too slow. Whereas Odin had been tossed off the bridge like a doll not minutes before, Selena threw herself over the side with purpose. She stared into the darkness, determined, and then disappeared into it.

Camilla howled. “Selena!”

 _Ah,_ Leo thought. _So that’s what I might have sounded like._

If he’d had time to call out for Odin, that was.

Camilla threw herself against the side of the bridge not unlike the way Laslow had upon watching Odin fall. But Camilla was much larger than Laslow, and there was no doubt in Leo’s mind Camilla would have gone over the edge if she hadn’t been grabbed before doing so.

Whether or not the canyon could cause anyone to fall to their death—which was now apparently a fact up for debate—Leo didn’t want to see Camilla go diving over the edge in grief like he almost had. He sucked in a breath of relief when Laslow and Xander grabbed her and went running over.

“Wait, wait!” Laslow cried, taking hold of one of Camilla’s arms as Xander took hold of the other. One of Camilla’s violet wings slapped him in the face, and he nearly went stumbling back. “You can’t just go jumping in! You have to be prepared first!”

Voice overlapping his, Xander shouted, “Camilla, please, think about this!”

Camilla sagged against them just as Leo and Corrin reached her side. Tears brimmed in Camilla’s eyes. Still sucked into his own numb grief and not usually being the one his siblings came to for comfort before, Leo stopped just short of them, unsure of what to do.

Corrin had no such hesitation. They dropped to Camilla’s side.

“Camilla!” they said. “I promise, Selena is okay! Odin too! I’ll explain everything!”

“Yes!” Laslow agreed, ducking his head under another one of Xander’s heavy looks. “I can also help explain! We can all see Selena and Odin in a moment!”

Hearing those words for a second time from someone else—that confirmed it. Leo’s heart stuttered in his chest. It almost felt like a heartbeat.

Leo grabbed Corrin’s wrist. They looked away from Camilla and up at him.

“Corrin,” he said, “please start talking.”

 

 

 

Leo pushed himself up from the dirt, eyes scanning the unfamiliar horizon. He flapped his wings and felt his senses return.

Jumping into the canyon had been… disorienting, to say the least.

The scenery before him was just as disorienting. Leo had awakened to find himself on what seemed to be an island floating in the air.

Actually, he realized, looking this way and that, they were a _series_ of floating islands.

 _How utterly mystifying,_ he thought. It was so unlike anything Leo had ever seen or considered within the natural law of the world. He would have taken a moment to study it more had he not known Odin was out there somewhere in this new land, waiting for him. The thought still seemed unreal to Leo, but there was no time to lose.

Especially since there were more soldiers spawning all around them.

On the opposite side of the little island, loud enough for Leo to overhear, Azura pointed and said, “That mage must be the one summoning all these enemies!”

Leo squinted, then nodded to himself. Between the rocks and the new enemies, he thought he could see the small fort in the distance.

Corrin was right by Azura’s side, as were Xander and Ryoma. Other familiar faces were also quickly making their way in the royal’s direction, Niles among them.

He wanted to look for Odin immediately—to soar up into the air as Camilla easily did, searching the land from above—and barely restrained himself. They were in unknown territory, surrounded by strange enemies and another strange mage, and Leo was not as talented in the air as his sister. It would have been a selfish—and more importantly, reckless—move. Leo needed to stay in top condition as long as possible.

So he waited until Niles and Elise at the very least reached his side, and then they threw themselves into the battle.

Removing the seals to the lower the barrier was a hassle and a half but a necessary one. Leo took Niles and a few other soldiers in one direction while his siblings all took off in another. He had to trust that they would all take care of themselves and the seals in their own time.

Three of eight seals had fallen when Leo hear Camilla call out.

His sister had been swooping through the air above, working this way and that with Beruka in the skies, when she suddenly pulled back and yelled, “Selena!”

Leo’s head jerked at the sound. Camilla dove toward a flash of what might have been red hair in the distance—not toward Leo’s island but another one.

Leo’s wings twitched. If Selena was on that island, then it was doubtless that Odin was there with her. Unfortunately, there was no way for Leo to make his way over there without abandoning his own comrades, and that simply wasn't acceptable.

Some yards away, Keaton and Charlotte were taking care of their own enemies. Niles fired off another arrow, finishing off the last of their immediate threats. His shoulders sagged.

“What would you recommend we do?” he asked.

Leo knew what he was really asking. He also knew both of them already knew the answer to that, but the fact Niles was asking at all meant he wanted to see Odin as well.

Reluctantly, Leo shook his head. “We must focus on our own—”

“Leo!”

Almost comically, Niles and Leo stared at each other. Then their heads turned.

A blur of yellow barreled into Leo. Leo jerked back, wrapping his arms around the sudden weight instinctively. His wings flapped to counter the new weight as he stumbled back a step. Niles let out grunt as Leo’s wing smacked him in the face. Leo let out a puff of air.

“Are you both alright?” Odin asked breathlessly, pulling back just enough look up at Leo’s face. Leo’s arms around him didn’t loosen. “I am sure my sudden exit distressed you both, but cosmic forces outside of my control drew me into the abyss. But never fear! Odin Dark has returned, stronger than ever!”

There was a bruise near Odin’s hairline and dirt smudged on his cheek. Leo couldn’t stop staring.

He flexed his arms around Odin and relished the feel of him. Odin felt real. Solid.

Niles shook his head and reached out to squeeze Odin’s shoulder. He smiled fondly.

“You really are troublesome, you know that?” he said. “Try not to die for real anytime soon.”

Then he gave both Leo and Odin a knowing look and made his way towards Keaton and Charlotte, who were still lingering nearby. A few other enemies were creeping closer, but they weren’t urgent threats just yet.

Leo knew without asking that Niles would keep watch with them, though they didn’t have much time. The immediate danger was taken care of, but they were still in the middle of a battle.

Still, he turned his full attention towards Odin. Leo dropped his arms around Odin’s sides so he could cup Odin’s cheeks instead.

“Are you alright?” he asked lowly.

“Me?” Odin blinked like the very question was ridiculous. “But of course! No force in this world or the next could tear me away from you, Lord Leo!”

Every part of Leo ached for him. “Good. That’s good.”

Odin placed his own hand on top of Leo’s.

“How are _you_?” he stressed.

How was _Leo_? He thought back. He'd forced himself to go through the five stages of grief within a single battle and then had gotten stuck somewhere around the depression stage. _Then_ he’d experienced extreme whiplash not two minutes later when it became sudden apparent that Odin was not, in fact, dead after all.

Leo was… something. Something that could be dealt with later. Right now, he was simply relieved.

“I’m fine,” he said. Odin didn’t look like he believed him, so Leo repeated, “I’m fine, really. We can talk more later.”

Frowning, Odin nodded.

Leo glanced toward his allies and found them all looking innocently away. Keaton was actually preoccupied with an weak mage of his own. Leo and Odin were running out of time.

Still, Leo stole another selfish moment to encircle his wings around Odin, obscuring them both from prying eyes. Leo dipped his face low, and Odin’s lips met his with ease.

It was one of their more chaste kisses, all things considered, but Leo still loved it. His mouth glided against Odin’s like the aching tides. When he pulled back, he ran his thumb over Odin’s bottom lip. Odin felt warm under his hand.

Even when he pulled back, Leo kept his wings curled around them. Just for a little more privacy, a little longer.

“Hey,” Odin said seriously, dropping his facade. “We’re going to get through this. Everyone.”

There was no way he could promise that, and Leo knew it. He had nearly lost Odin once already. He wasn't sure he could take such a thing a second time.

Still, he nodded anyway and pressed his forehead against Odin’s.

“Stay close to me,” Leo ordered. “Don’t leave my side until we’re safe again.”

“I won’t,” Odin promised.

They were going to have a long talk later about the emptiness in Leo’s chest that still hadn’t quite receded. Barring enough privacy to do so, Leo was going to hold Odin for a long, long time without speaking. Both options sounded rather nice at the moment.

But that was enough slacking off for now. There was work to be done.

Leo pulled his wings back just as the islands shook again. He looked over and saw another piece of the barrier fall. That made four out of eight dragon veins activated.

“Follow me,” he said, preparing the next spell. “We’ll be done with this nuisance soon.”

 _He's here,_ Leo reminded himself with repeatedly, barely refraining from looking at Odin every step of the way. He could feel Odin's presence at his side without looking, but that almost wasn't enough.  _He's not gone. He's here._

Niles met them halfway, and then they were off. Leo made sure to keep Odin within arm’s reach for the remainder of the battle.

And true to his word, as soon as they found a moment for themselves, Leo took Odin into his arms and refused to let go for a long, long time.

**Author's Note:**

> Can you tell I'm a goner for Mistaken For Dead AUs? Not as protective as my usual self-indulgent fics, but I hope you enjoyed it anyway! If you did, let me know!
> 
> It's Leo's POV, so I didn't include much of Odin's canonical fear of heights here, but I'm sure falling off the bridge had to be scary! Even if he did know the fall itself wouldn't kill him. He was still very much afraid!
> 
> *Leo Voice* "I don't know what I would do if I lost you." Can you believe he actually said that in canon to Odin? Oof. My heart.
> 
> Feel free to leave a comment below or hit me up on my [tumblr!](http://someobscurereference.tumblr.com/) I get a lot of FE14 meta and fic related asks there, so feel free to browse through my "asks" or "fe14" tag for some extra stuff from me and your fellow readers that you may not see over here. Or send in a question of your own if you had one! Thanks for reading!


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